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- Jul 28, 2014
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I'm glad the B.T and Sarah are doing better.
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Having kept up with this particular thread I know how we all love our dogs. I just wanted to give a heads up to all of you, especially those in more rural communities. We have been up all night after spending most of the day yesterday at the vet with two of our dogs. B.T. and Sara, our sisters (you can see them in post #8 on this thread) were both bit by a Copperhead yesterday. Sara got it more than B.T. because she was trying to protect her sister from the snake. They are probably going to be o.k. Sara has to go back to the vet this a.m. but she is breathing o.k. and able to drink water and swallow food now. At first her entire face and throat were swelling and we were really worried for a while. I encourage you all in areas with poisonous snakes to at least consider anti-venom injections for your dogs just as you do anti-rabies shots. If nothing else they will buy you the extra time it takes to get your dog to your vet.
Even if you do not have poisonous snakes (we have rattle snakes, copperheads and water moccasins) some of the other snakes like rat/chicken snakes can give a nasty bite that is toxic while not deadly. Talk to your vets and keep your dogs safe.
We will be spending a lot of time the next few days snake proofing our yard and poultry areas. We know it will be impossible to eliminate them entirely but we can at least do what we can to reduce the risk.
Keep safe everyone.
Thanks. B.T. is home doing much better. She only has a little "snake goiter", a pocket of fluid in her neck, but that is going away and her swelling is all but gone. Sara, on the other hand, is all puffed up and is at the vet on her second day of IV fluids and medications. Hopefully she will not have to go back after today. B.T. misses her sister and just pines away for her while she is gone. This is the first time in their entire lives that they have been apart.Glad they are doing better. That's scary. We have everything here (tx) and when we move out to some land we will be getting the rattlesnake shots for sure. They really don't cost all that much either. Heck we had a baby rattler next to our front door this spring and we are in suburbia.
Thanks. B.T. is home doing much better. She only has a little "snake goiter", a pocket of fluid in her neck, but that is going away and her swelling is all but gone. Sara, on the other hand, is all puffed up and is at the vet on her second day of IV fluids and medications. Hopefully she will not have to go back after today. B.T. misses her sister and just pines away for her while she is gone. This is the first time in their entire lives that they have been apart.
Your are in Round Rock, I have several friends that live around there as well. We went from Austin to Abilene to our current farm between Coleman and Lawn about 300 miles north west of you. If you are planning on moving out to the country then yes you need to be sure your dogs are protected as well as your selves.
Thanks again.
Sorry you had to go threw that. I know how scary those kinds of snakes are. I found a 6 foot skin in my shed right next to my girls and freaked out. I have been looking into safe idea on how to make sure no one gets hurt. Thanks for the postHaving kept up with this particular thread I know how we all love our dogs. I just wanted to give a heads up to all of you, especially those in more rural communities. We have been up all night after spending most of the day yesterday at the vet with two of our dogs. B.T. and Sara, our sisters (you can see them in post #8 on this thread) were both bit by a Copperhead yesterday. Sara got it more than B.T. because she was trying to protect her sister from the snake. They are probably going to be o.k. Sara has to go back to the vet this a.m. but she is breathing o.k. and able to drink water and swallow food now. At first her entire face and throat were swelling and we were really worried for a while. I encourage you all in areas with poisonous snakes to at least consider anti-venom injections for your dogs just as you do anti-rabies shots. If nothing else they will buy you the extra time it takes to get your dog to your vet.
Even if you do not have poisonous snakes (we have rattle snakes, copperheads and water moccasins) some of the other snakes like rat/chicken snakes can give a nasty bite that is toxic while not deadly. Talk to your vets and keep your dogs safe.
We will be spending a lot of time the next few days snake proofing our yard and poultry areas. We know it will be impossible to eliminate them entirely but we can at least do what we can to reduce the risk.
Keep safe everyone.
Glad they are doing better. That's scary. We have everything here (tx) and when we move out to some land we will be getting the rattlesnake shots for sure. They really don't cost all that much either. Heck we had a baby rattler next to our front door this spring and we are in suburbia.
I would only suggest that you Google "side effects of rattlesnake shots in dogs" and try as best as you can to make your own decision. There are some real success stories and there are some real nightmare stories. If I had read these before my dogs were bit I would probably have not ever considered the shots. But having a loved dog suffering from snake bite and seeing what she is going through I might have done the shots before. Please keep in mind that these shots DO NOT MAKE YOUR DOG IMMUNE TO SNAKE BITES!!! They will ONLY buy you some extra time to get them to your vet to begin treatment. We live 55 miles from our vet so we need the extra time.We have rattlesnakes here in Northern Cali too! I've only found the shed skins on my property, but our neighbors have reported seeing them all summer. It makes me very nervous, as it takes us 30 minutes to drive to town, 45 to get to the emergency Vet, so if any of our dogs were bit, it would likely be too late before we could get them any help, unless they've had the shot!
We've asked several vets to administer the rattlesnake shot, but no one will do it! They all say there's too big a risk of bad reaction and no one wants to take on that liability. One vet even had the nerve to tell my husband, "If you don't want your dog to get bit, don't let it near a rattlesnake!" Well, that's all well and good lady, but it doesn't really work that way when you live on 20+ acres! Needless to say, we never went back to that vet.
Anyway, we found a neighbor who says he can and has administered the rattle snake shot. My husband spoke to him so I don't know the details but I believe it was legit. However I am little nervous about this supposed "bad reaction." Does anyone have any first-hand experience with the rattlesnake shot?